Policy Brief – The application of the ECHR and its jurisprudence by Albanian constitutional judges in criminal disputes, June 2025

This policy document written by Assoc. Prof. Denard Veshi, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Enkelejda Koka and Dr. Ervin Pupe, examines the application of human rights as one of the main variables that measure the democratic status of a country. While in traditional literature, public law, which includes human rights, and criminal law were divided, in recent years, judges have also applied human rights in legal decisions related to criminal cases. This is more evident in the case of Albania, where an individual constitutional complaint against the violation of human rights has also been established in the Constitution. In other words, after the decision of the Supreme Court, citizens have direct access to the Constitutional Court, if their human rights have been violated. This paper studies the individual constitutional complaints in criminal cases in Albania. The case of Albania was chosen as one of the countries with a previous totalitarian regime. After identifying the criminal cases where human rights have been applied, this paper reviews the application of human rights in concrete disputes. In the conclusions reached, the research underlines the application of international human rights by Albanian constitutional judges.

This material was produced within the project “Building Partnership on Fundamentals: Empowering CSOs for the EU accession process”, with the financial support of the European Union. Its content is the sole responsibility of the European Movement in Albania and the authors, and does not necessarily reflect the views and positions of the European Union.

The project “Building Partnership on Fundamentals: Empowered CSOs in the EU accession process” is being implemented by the European Movement in Albania (EMA), with the financial support of the European Union – IPA Civil Society Facility 2021, in cooperation with the Academy of European Integration and Negotiations (AIEN), Slovak Foreign Policy Association (SFPA) and the Center for Transparency and Freedom of Information (CTFI).

Policy Brief – The application of the ECHR and its jurisprudence by Albanian constitutional judges in criminal disputes, June 2025